1888 in Germany

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Decades: 1860s • 1870s • 1880s • 1890s • 1900s See also: Other events of 1888 List of years in Germany

Events in the year 1888 in Germany.

"Year of the Three Emperors"

Incumbents

National level

• Kaiser — William I to 9 March, then Frederick III to 15 June, then Wilhelm II
• Chancellor — Otto von Bismarck

State level

Kingdoms

• King of Bavaria — Otto of Bavaria
• King of Prussia — William I to 9 March, then Frederick III to 15 June, then Wilhelm II (all Kaisers of the German Empire)
• King of Saxony — Albert of Saxony
• King of Württemberg — Charles I of Württemberg

Grand Duchies

• Grand Duke of Baden — Frederick I
• Grand Duke of Hesse — Louis IV
• Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin — Frederick Francis III
• Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz — Frederick William
• Grand Duke of Oldenburg — Peter II
• Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach — Charles Alexander

Principalities

• Schaumburg-Lippe — Adolf I, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe
• Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt — George Albert, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
• Schwarzburg-Sondershausen — Karl Günther, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
• Principality of Lippe — Woldemar, Prince of Lippe
• Reuss Elder Line — Heinrich XXII, Prince Reuss of Greiz
• Reuss Younger Line — Heinrich XIV, Prince Reuss Younger Line
• Waldeck and Pyrmont — George Victor, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont

Duchies

• Duke of Anhalt — Frederick I, Duke of Anhalt
• Duke of Brunswick — Prince Albert of Prussia (regent)
• Duke of Saxe-Altenburg — Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg
• Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha — Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
• Duke of Saxe-Meiningen — Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen

Colonial Governors

• Cameroon (Kamerun) — Eugen von Zimmerer (1st term) to 17 January, then Julius Freiherr von Soden (2nd term)
• German East Africa (Deutsch-Ostafrika) — Karl Peters (administrator) to 8 February, then Hermann Wissmann (commissioner) (1st term)
• German New Guinea (Deutsch-Neuguinea) — Georg Freiherr von Schleinitz to 1 March, then Reinhold Kraetke (both Landeshauptleute of the German New Guinea Company)
• German South-West Africa (Deutsch-Südwestafrika) — Heinrich Ernst Göring (acting commissioner)
• Togoland — Jesko von Puttkamer (acting commissioner) (1st term) to 17 October, then Eugen von Zimmerer (commissioner)
• Wituland (Deutsch-Witu) — Gustav Denhardt (resident)

Events

• 9 March — Emperor Wilhelm I dies at the age of 90 in Berlin. He is succeeded by his oldest son Friedrich Wilhelm, who becomes Friedrich III.
• 16 April — The German Empire annexes the island of Nauru
• 15 June — Wilhelm II becomes German Emperor after the death of his father, Friedrich III.
• 13 December — Heinrich Hertz presents his report on the discovery of electromagnetic radiation to the Berlin Academy of Sciences

Literature

• 'Theses on Feuerbach' by Karl Marx published posthumously

Music

• Johannes Brahms — Violin Sonata in D Minor (opus 108)
• Max Reger — String Quartet in D minor (with double bass obbligato; without op.) (1888-9)
• Joseph Rheinberger — Organ Sonata No. 12 in D-flat, Op. 154
• Richard Strauss
  • Don Juan, Macbeth (first version)
• Carl Maria von Weber's opera Die drei Pintos completed posthumously by Theodor Hell

Sport

• Establishment of association football clubs BFC Germania, TGM SV Jügesheim and KBC Duisburg

Miscellaneous

• First buildings of the Berufsgenossenschaftliches Universitätsklinikum Bergmannsheil opened

Births

• 14 January — Karl Badberger, architect
• 17 February — Otto Stern, German Nobel laureate in Physics, expatriate in United States (d. 1969, United States)
• 27 February — Lotte Lehmann, German soprano, expatriate in United States (d. 1976, United States)
• 14 March — Peretz Naftali, German-born Israeli politician (d. 1961, Israel)
• 14 March — Hermann Reinecke, Wehrmacht general (d. 1973)
• 19 March — Josef Albers, German-born American artist (d. 1976, United States)
• 24 July — Hermann von Bönninghausen, athlete (d. 1919)
• 20 December — Yitzhak Baer, German-born Israeli historian (d. 1980, Israel)

Deaths

• 9 March — William I, Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia (b. 1797)
• 5 April — Eduard Karl August Riehm, theologian (b. 1830)
• 15 June — Frederick III, Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia (b. 1831)
• 20 June — Karl Friedrich August Kahnis, theologian (b. 1814)
• 23 July — Johannes Heinrich August Ebrard, theologian (b. 1818)
• 28 August — Georg Beseler, politician and jurist (b. 1809)
• 12 September — August von Werder, general (b. 1808)